Lebanese soldiers exchange fire across the border with Syrian rebels

BEIRUT – Lebanon's state news agency says Lebanese soldiers have exchanged fire across the border with rebels in neighboring Syria.

The state-run National News Agency said late Sunday that Lebanese soldiers stationed near the village of Qaa in the Bekaa Valley returned fire into Syria after "armed men" shot at them from across the frontier.

The agency quoted a statement from the Lebanese army that said the exchange of fire took place Saturday and that there were no casualties.

Since it began in March 2011, Syria's civil war on several occasions has spilled into neighboring countries, including Turkey, Israel and Lebanon, raising fears that the Arab Spring's longest and deadliest revolt against the authoritarian regime in Damascus could spark a regional war.